Overview
App development is sold by the milestone, and the post-launch support is the line that decides whether the app survives its first year
App developers build native iOS, Android, or cross-platform mobile applications for small and medium businesses, startups, internal corporate tools, and the long tail of clients who think they need an app. The work covers requirements gathering, UX and UI design, development (often React Native, Flutter, or native Swift/Kotlin), backend integration, app store submission, post-launch bug fixing, and ongoing feature development. The customer rarely understands the full scope: the build is 60 percent of the work, and the post-launch support keeping the app running on new OS versions is the other 40 percent. A flat 'app development, $24,000' quote without milestone breakdown, post-launch support, and platform-update plan misses what the customer is actually buying.
QuoteGenio gives app developers a quoting shape that fits both build and support. Discovery and requirements as the first phase, UX and UI design by screen, development hours by feature with the platform named, backend and API integration, testing and quality assurance, app store submission (Apple, Google) with the developer-account setup, launch support, and a post-launch maintenance retainer covering OS-version updates and minor bug fixes as a separate recurring record. Send via WhatsApp or email to the client with wireframes and milestones, take a deposit at booking, raise milestone invoices through design, build, and launch, and the final launch invoice closes with the app in both stores.
Who it is for
Who uses QuoteGenio
Built for every kind of app development business, from solo freelancers to small studios.
The problem
The quoting headaches every app developer knows
App projects are scope-heavy, sprint-driven, and prone to feature creep. Without a clear written proposal, the MVP turns into a fully-featured product without anyone agreeing the budget.
MVP turns into a full product
An '$ 18,000 MVP' starts with five core features and ends with twelve. Without a sprint structure on the proposal, every extra feature absorbs into the original budget.
Email scopes get reinterpreted
A long email scope gets read selectively by the client. Six weeks in, the feature you thought was Phase 2 is being asked for as part of the MVP.
Hourly with no cap loses faith
Pure time-and-materials with no estimate makes clients nervous. Sprint-based fixed pricing with clear deliverables wins the deals where the client wants budget certainty.
The fix
QuoteGenio makes it simple
A clean workflow for app development engagements. Quote MVPs, sprints, maintenance, and rate cards in one place. Send via email and get acceptance before the first standup.
The payoff
What you get with QuoteGenio
The everyday wins that add up across a year of quoting and invoicing.
Built for app projects
Line items for discovery, sprint planning, design, build per platform, QA, app-store submission, and ongoing maintenance. Set sprint rates and reuse.
Works from anywhere
Send a proposal after a kick-off call from your phone, or push a sprint extension quote during a stand-up. No desktop required.
Quote in under 10 minutes
Build templates for MVP, sprint extension, and maintenance retainer so each new client quote is a few sprints' worth of tweaks away from sent.
Track sprints and finals
See which sprint payments have landed and which finals are still outstanding. Chase per-sprint balances before the next planning session.
Built for your trade
Quoting calibrated to how app developers actually work
Pick your trade in Settings and the entire quote flow switches to fit. Line item presets, compliance fields, on-the-quote calculators, and per-m² / after-hours pricing all change to match your industry.
Trade-specific line items
Quick add picker pre-fills the common items your trade quotes. Skip the blank rows.
Brand-specific catalogues
Pylontech, Hikvision, Canadian Solar, Sunsynk and others pre-named. Pick the brand, the description writes itself.
Compliance fields built in
IOPSA, ECASA, PIRB, PSIRA, NHBRC, SAQCC. Set once. Every quote prints them under FROM.
Registration expiry alerts
Dashboard notification 60 days before your PSIRA, CoC or any dated registration lapses.
Per-m² / hour / day billing
Unit selector on every line item: m², hr, linear m, days. Stop doing the maths externally.
After-hours and emergency
1.5× and 2× multipliers as a one-tap toggle. Customer sees the breakdown on the quote.
Quote-flow calculators
Solar size, battery backup, cable run cost. Compute on the spot, drop straight onto the quote.
Staged payments
Deposit on acceptance + balance on completion as two separate amounts on the quote PDF.
Scope-of-work checklist
Structured Included / Not included lists. Client acceptance = signing the scope.
Site-survey mode
Log a location per line item: camera positions, fixtures by room, sensors by zone.
Regional rate hints
Pricing ranges per item per currency shown as you quote.
Free on every plan
All of the above included on the free plan. Premium is for capacity, not the trade tooling.
Why QuoteGenio
Why App Developers choose QuoteGenio
The tools that matter most when you are quoting on-site, under pressure, and between jobs.
Quote from your phone
Most App Developers build and send quotes directly from the job site. No laptop, no office, no delays.
Win more jobs, faster
The first professional quote a client receives usually wins. Respond in minutes, not hours.
Quote to invoice in one click
When the job is accepted, convert to an invoice instantly. No retyping, no double entry.
Pricing guide
Typical App Developers job pricing
A rough guide to what app developers charge for common engagements. Pricing varies by platform (iOS, Android, cross-platform), seniority of the developer, complexity (forms-and-API vs ML/AR), and team size. Specialist work (native iOS, AR/VR, ML) sits at the top of these ranges.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Discovery & technical specification (1-2 weeks) | $ 2,400 - $ 8,500 |
| MVP build (single platform, 3-4 features) | $ 18,000 - $ 65,000 |
| Hourly rate (mid-level developer) | $ 65 - $ 145 / hour |
| Hourly rate (senior developer or specialist) | $ 110 - $ 240 / hour |
| Sprint-based build (2-week sprint, 1 senior dev) | $ 5,800 - $ 14,500 |
| Bug fix / maintenance retainer (monthly) | $ 480 - $ 3,800 / month |
| App-store submission (iOS or Android) | $ 280 - $ 850 |
Pricing shown in USD as a rough benchmark. Rates vary significantly by country, region, currency, and market.
Call-out fees
Sprint-based pricing is the cleanest way to quote app work. Quote a 2-week sprint at a fixed rate (typically $ 5,800 to $ 14,500 for one senior developer including QA), with a clear deliverable per sprint. The client books sprint by sprint, and you can stop or extend at any milestone without scope disputes. Pure hourly rates feel risky to clients and pure fixed-price feels risky to you. Sprint-based fixed pricing is the middle ground.
Hourly vs fixed pricing
Use fixed pricing for discovery and individual sprints where the scope is well-defined. Use hourly pricing (typically $ 65 to $ 240 per hour depending on seniority and specialism) for ad-hoc work, bug fixes outside maintenance hours, and exploration where the work is genuinely uncertain. State on the proposal which lines are fixed and which are time-based.
See it in action
Example quote breakdown
Here's what a clean MVP proposal looks like. Discovery, design, four sprints, and pass-through licences each on their own line. The client sees the full MVP cost up front, the sprint structure makes progress visible, and the licence pass-through is transparent.
Try it yourself
Job size
Region
Sample quote
MVP discovery and first 4 sprints, cross-platform mobile app
Discovery & technical specification (2 weeks)
UI/UX design (Figma, 12 screens, 2 revisions)
Sprint 1. Auth, onboarding, profile (2 weeks)
Sprint 2. Core feature flow (2 weeks)
Sprint 3. Payments and notifications (2 weeks)
Sprint 4. QA, beta release, app-store submission
Apple Developer + Google Play licences (pass-through)
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery & technical specification (2 weeks) | 1 | $ 4,800 | $ 4,800 |
| UI/UX design (Figma, 12 screens, 2 revisions) | 1 | $ 6,500 | $ 6,500 |
| Sprint 1. Auth, onboarding, profile (2 weeks) | 1 | $ 9,800 | $ 9,800 |
| Sprint 2. Core feature flow (2 weeks) | 1 | $ 9,800 | $ 9,800 |
| Sprint 3. Payments and notifications (2 weeks) | 1 | $ 9,800 | $ 9,800 |
| Sprint 4. QA, beta release, app-store submission | 1 | $ 8,500 | $ 8,500 |
| Apple Developer + Google Play licences (pass-through) | 1 | $ 124 | $ 124 |
| Subtotal | $ 49,324 | ||
| Tax (10%) | $ 4,932 | ||
| Total incl. tax | $ 54,256 | ||
Totals recalculate as you change the controls above. Tax rate inferred from the sample quote.
Items often forgotten
Third-party API costs, Firebase / Supabase / cloud hosting beyond launch, app-store annual fees, ongoing maintenance after MVP launch, design revisions beyond included rounds, and post-launch bug-fix sprints. Add these as standard lines or stated hourly rates so they stop coming out of the MVP fee.
Peer snapshot
How App Developers actually use QuoteGenio
Indicative activity for App Developers on the platform. Use it as a benchmark for how often to quote and how fast to respond.
25
Quotes sent per month
61%
Average quote acceptance
5 min
Median time to send quote
$ 54,256
Typical quote value
Figures are indicative platform averages for this trade segment.
Start quoting App Developer jobs like this, free
Build your first quote in under 2 minutes. No credit card, no setup fee, no contract.
Avoid these
Common quoting mistakes
We talk to a lot of app developers. The same scope, sprint, and post-launch mistakes come up project after project. Fix these and your MVP rate will actually cover the work the client asks for.
Mistake: Quoting fixed-price for an undefined MVP
Better: Always quote discovery as Sprint 0 with its own fixed fee. Only after discovery do you know the scope well enough to fixed-price the build sprints. State this clearly on the proposal.
Mistake: Verbal feature additions in standups
Better: When the client asks for a new feature mid-sprint, send a variation quote before adding to the backlog. The feature either gets pushed to a future sprint or the current sprint scope shifts.
Mistake: No deposit on the engagement
Better: Take 30 to 50 percent deposit on each sprint. Sprint-based fixed pricing means the client books a sprint, you deliver, you invoice the balance, and the next sprint starts on the next deposit.
Mistake: Cloud / API costs hidden in the rate
Better: List third-party costs (Firebase, Supabase, AWS, Stripe, push-notification services) as pass-through line items at retail. The client sees you are not absorbing infra cost.
Mistake: No QA or app-store time
Better: Quote QA and app-store submission as their own line items. Beta-testing rounds, store-listing copy, and submission rejection cycles are real time and should be paid.
Mistake: Open-ended maintenance after launch
Better: Quote a monthly maintenance retainer with a cap on hours and a stated rate beyond the cap. Without a retainer, the client treats post-launch as free support.
Mistake: No expiry on the proposal
Better: Set a 14 to 30 day validity. Developer rates and your team capacity shift with workload. State the validity on the proposal so it does not bind you indefinitely.
Mistake: No follow-up after sending the quote
Better: Most quotes that don't close, don't close because nobody followed up. Send a polite check-in 48 hours after the quote lands, and a second nudge at day 7. Two of every three accepted quotes get there because someone followed up.
Step by step
How to quote app development
Always quote discovery as Sprint 0 first. App projects almost never have a defined scope at the kick-off call. Quote a 1 to 2 week discovery sprint as a fixed fee (typically $ 2,400 to $ 8,500) that produces a technical specification, user stories, an architecture diagram, and a sprint estimate for the build phase. After discovery, you can fixed-price the build sprints with confidence. Without discovery, fixed-pricing the build is a margin lottery.
Itemise sprints, design, QA, and pass-through costs separately. List the design phase, then each sprint as its own line with the deliverables for that sprint, then QA and app-store submission as separate items. Add Apple Developer, Google Play, Firebase, AWS, and other third-party costs as pass-through lines at retail. State which sprints are fixed-price (after discovery) and which are time-and-materials (typically only for true exploration work).
Take a deposit per sprint, not per project. Sprint-based pricing means the client books one sprint at a time. Take 30 to 50 percent deposit before each sprint starts, deliver, invoice the balance, then take the deposit on the next sprint. This protects your cash flow on long builds and gives the client a stop point at any milestone. Discovery is usually paid up-front in full because the deliverable is the spec.
Send a structured proposal, not an email. App buyers expect a proposal that reads like a real studio sent it. Use a branded PDF with discovery, design, sprint plan, milestones, rate card, and pass-through schedule. Share via email or WhatsApp link. Track when it is opened. Follow up after 48 hours. Once accepted, invoice the discovery deposit immediately and the build deposits sprint by sprint. Set a 14 to 30 day validity.
FAQ
Common questions from app developers
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Yes. Most experienced app developers quote discovery as Sprint 0 (1-2 weeks, fixed fee) producing a technical spec and sprint estimate. The build phase is then quoted as a fresh proposal with sprints based on the discovery output. This protects both sides from quoting blind.
When the client asks for a new feature, send a variation quote before adding to the backlog. The feature either gets pushed to a future sprint at extra cost, or the current sprint scope shifts and a feature gets dropped. Get the variation in writing.
Yes. Once the proposal is ready, share the public link via WhatsApp or email. The client opens a branded PDF, accepts online, and you have a time-stamped acceptance on file.
Yes. Quote 30 to 50 percent deposit per sprint. Each sprint is its own milestone with its own deposit and final. This protects cash flow and gives the client clear stop points.
Quote a monthly retainer with stated inclusions (bug fixes, OS updates, store-listing maintenance) and a cap on monthly hours. Anything beyond is billed at your hourly rate stated on the proposal.
Yes. The free plan gives you 5 quotes and 2 invoices per month with no credit card. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited quotes and recurring sprint / maintenance invoicing.
Yes. Apple Developer and Google Play licences, Firebase, AWS, Supabase, Stripe, and similar services are pass-through. List them at retail cost as their own line items so the client sees you are not absorbing infra cost.
Cross-platform (React Native, Flutter) is typically 30 to 50 percent cheaper than native (Swift, Kotlin) for most apps. Quote both options on the proposal if the client is undecided, with a clear comparison of trade-offs (development cost, performance, time to market, long-term maintenance).
If you are tax registered, yes. Show tax as its own line on the proposal so the client sees the full price before they accept.
14 to 30 days. Developer rates and team capacity shift, and the platform / third-party costs you quoted may change. State the validity on the proposal.
Still have questions? We would rather answer them now than after you have signed up.
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Guides
Guides for App Developers
Practical advice to help you quote better, get paid faster, and grow your business.
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